NAMM 2005: Ableton Intros Live Operator

NAMM 2005: Ableton announced Operator, a new software synthesizer instrument for Live 4, Ableton’s real-time music production platform.

Ableton’s Robert Henke explains, “Our aim was to create a truly unique and inspiring instrument that combined the sonic richness and character of hardware synthesizers with the power of Ableton Live. By integrating Operator with Live, we were able to give users the flexibility and power of clip envelopes, hands-on control and zero latency.”

Like Live, Operator’s design is geared toward promoting creativity and maximizing workflow efficiency. A set of varied and musical presets, sorted by category, is provided for quick access to Operator’s sonic spectrum. At the next level, two macro controls called “Time” and “Tone” can be used to modify the overall characteristics of the sound, handling complex operations through a single action. The most essential parameters of Operator’s synthesis engine are individually represented on the front panel. Musicians who enjoy detailed sonic surgery can use Operator’s central display to access the instrument’s graphic envelope editors and other advanced controls.

The core of Operator’s voice architecture consists of four oscillators and a resonant multimode filter. This setup allows for both subtractive and frequency modulation (FM) synthesis. In addition to a wide selection of sine waveforms, which emulate the aliasing artifacts of classic hardware FM synthesizers, each of Operator’s oscillators can also generate “virtual analog” synthesis waveforms such as saw, square, triangle and noise. Each oscillator can either deliver audio signals to the output or modulate other oscillators. To allow further dissection of your sound, Operator’s filter section, LFO and pitch envelope add great flexibility and expressive modulation possibilities.

Following Live’s design philosophy, Operator is powerful without demanding screen real estate. Every parameter of Operator can be automated or remote-controlled via MIDI, allowing you to get completely hands on. Parameters can also be controlled via Live’s clip envelopes.

Learn to Operate. To learn Operator is to love it. Operator includes several integrated lessons, complete with screenshots and sound examples, so that you can quickly discover the power of Operator’s flexible sound design ability. The Operator lessons even take you through creating a variety of sounds from scratch. Each lesson is accessible via the Live 4 Help menu.

Operator Pricing and Availability.

To purchase or try Operator, simply download the 4.1 update of Live from the Ableton website. An activation code for Operator can be purchased online for 129 Euro / 149 USD.